The Minister of Health, Mónica García, presided over the celebration of National Organ, Tissue and Cell Donor Day, where she acknowledged that this is ‘one of the greatest acts of generosity, which describes the human quality of Spanish society’.

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Nearly 6,500 people have donated a kidney

The minister highlighted ‘the exemplary nature of donors and those families who, in the tragic moment of the loss of a loved one, say yes to donation, as well as those who undergo major surgery to improve the life of a relative or even an unknown person; this act of homage is for them,’ she said.

Mónica García also recalled that ‘in order to improve the social protection of living organ donors, last week the Congress of Deputies unanimously approved a bill that creates a specific system of labour protection for them’.

The director of the National Transplant Organisation, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, thanked all the organisations actively participating in this process for their collaboration and stressed the importance of donation, ‘which is also a way of bringing out our values as a society’.

The director of the National Transplant Organisation, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, thanked all the organisations that actively participate in this process for their collaboration and stressed the importance of donation, ‘which is also a way of bringing out our values as a society’.

This day, which is celebrated on the first Wednesday of every June, is an opportunity to pay tribute to donors and their families and to remember the importance of organ, tissue and cell donation.

Donation leaves a mark and saves lives.

With this objective in mind, the Minister of Health, accompanied by the Director General of the ONT, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, presided over the institutional event at the Ministry of Health headquarters, which brought together representatives of the organisations that make up the Union of Solid Organ Transplant Recipients (UTxs), the National Federation of Associations for Organ and Cell Donation, the National Federation of Associations for Organ and Tissue Donation, and the National Federation of Associations for Organ and Tissue Donation: the National Federation of Associations for the Fight Against Kidney Diseases (ALCER); the National Federation of Liver Patients and Transplant Patients (FNETH); the Spanish Federation of Cystic Fibrosis (FEFQ); and the Spanish Federation of Heart Transplant Patients (FETCO).

This year, the ONT wanted to pay tribute to those people who have donated a kidney or part of their liver in life to give a second chance to a loved one and, in the case of a kidney, sometimes to a stranger.